Note: the following is my article published in the Daily Guide, the newspaper here in Accra for which I am a reporting intern. Shortly, some of us will be publishing blog pieces that reflect on the experiences of being burglarized last Wednesday. I am posting this article to provide factual context.

An East Legon home housing 16 students from the United States’ University of Oregon was burgled early Wednesday morning.

The students, who are in Ghana on a six-week internship exchange programme, woke up at approximately 5am to find that over $20,000 worth of electronics, cash, and backpacks had been stolen from  their abode as they slept.

The burglars stole items from the living room including the other four bedrooms, where they made away with mobile phones belonging to the victims.

Jeff Mercado, an undergraduate who is doing his internship at Metro TV, believes the security guard was asleep at the time of the burglary.

The East Legon Police Station said they were actively investigating the case.

Corporal Samuel Borah led a team to scrutinise the scene for evidence later in the afternoon.

Carson York, a graduate student who is doing his internship at StratComm Africa, lost a MacBook Pro computer, iPad, and iPhone.

York’s thesis, the final project required to receive his Master’s Degree, which was saved on his computer was among the items burgled.

York was the first student to wake up and noticed the missing items.

“I was still half asleep and went from thinking where did my stuff go, how did they get moved, to then thinking someone stole my belongings from my room while I was sleeping from next to my bed,” York said. “It just hits you in the deepest part of your stomach as the impossible becomes reality.”

The thieves cut through a section of barbed wire on the property’s south wall and climbed into the courtyard. They then entered through a nearby door on the side of the house opposite to the security guard’s office.

The students spent the remainder of Wednesday morning filing police reports, calling family members in the States to notify them of the losses, and walking through the surrounding neighborhood to listen for any hints of the burglars’ whereabouts.

Dr. Leslie Steeves, Professor & Associate Dean, Graduate Affairs and Research at the University of Oregon, who collaborates with Michael Williams, Executive Director of East Legon’s Aya Centre, to bring students to Ghana every summer, remarked that, “I’m devastated by this burglary.  I’ve been bringing students to Ghana since 2002 and nothing like this has ever happened.  This year’s group of 16 has been so positive and enthusiastic about the opportunity to live and work here,” Steeves said.

“It is beyond disheartening that the otherwise amazing experience they are having is being overshadowed by this theft.  Aside from the loss of cameras and computers, they are traumatised that burglars entered their private home.”

Steeves said she hoped anyone with any information will contact the East Legon Police.

The police have since asked members of the public with information about the possible location and identities of the thieves to contact the East Legon police station.

 By Conor Armor

http://www.dailyguideghana.com/?p=89461